An NPR retrospective, published in 2023, stated that 3 Feet High and Rising "reshaped the public imagination of what hip-hop could be", and that it "still sounds wondrous and weird" in the musical landscape of the 2020s. [11]

Sampling artists as diverse as Hall & Oates, Steely Dan and The Turtles, 3 Feet High and Rising is often viewed as the stylistic beginning of 1990s alternative hip hop (and especially jazz rap). 3 Feet High and Rising was chosen by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry for its cultural significance and general excellence.Sampling artists as diverse as Hall & Oates, Steely Dan and The Turtles, 3 Feet High and Rising is often viewed as the stylistic beginning of 1990s alternative hip hop (and especially jazz rap). 3 Feet High & Rising was chosen by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry for its cultural significance and general excellence. The album will finally be available on streaming services and in-stores on its anniversary, March 3, 2023. The album features a recurring lyrical motif of the "D.A.I.S.Y. Age", an acronym that stands for "Da Inner Sound, Y'all". [18] This concept also inspired the design of the album cover, as Mott describes in his essay "Hip Hop in The Daisy Age":

Offiziellecharts.de – De La Soul – 3 Feet High and Rising" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved March 24, 2023. Electronica artist James Lavelle cited 3 Feet High and Rising as one of his favorite albums. "It was definitely a reaction to the slightly more hardcore area of what was going on in hip hop. As a concept record, it's probably one of the best ever. It's like the Pink Floyd of hip hop, their Dark Side of the Moon – the way it musically and sonically moves around, but also the use of language was so unusual and out there." [44]

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Feet High and Rising received widespread critical acclaim upon its release. "An inevitable development in the class history of rap, [De La Soul is] new wave to Public Enemy's punk", wrote Robert Christgau of the album in his 1989 "Consumer Guide" column for The Village Voice. "Their music is maddeningly disjunct, and a few of the 24-cuts-in-67-minutes (too long for vinyl) are self-indulgent, arch. But their music is also radically unlike any rap you or anybody else has ever heard— inspirations include the Jarmels and a learn-it-yourself French record. And for all their kiddie consciousness, junk-culture arcana, and suburban in-jokes, they're in the new tradition— you can dance to them, which counts for plenty when disjunction is your problem." [28] Rolling Stone magazine's Michael Azerrad called 3 Feet High and Rising "(o)ne of the most original rap records ever to come down the pike", and described it as an "inventive, playful" record which "stands staid rap conventions on their def ear." [14] When The Village Voice held its annual Pazz & Jop critics' poll for 1989, 3 Feet High and Rising was ranked at number one, outdistancing its nearest opponent ( Neil Young's Freedom) by 21 votes and 260 points. [29]

Macy Gray felt it was "the best record of the past 15 years" in a Q magazine, describing De La Soul as "like the Beatles of hip hop." [45] The Village Voice, meanwhile, described 3 Feet High and Rising as "the Sgt. Pepper of hip hop". [ citation needed] The album sounded like a hip-hop version of the novelist Dos Passos’ America, crowded with voices, rhythms, rhymes, and the wit, joy, and pain of becoming aware of one’s power to change the world. And De La Soul felt like the closest hip-hop equivalent to Parliament and Funkadelic: high-concept, hilariously genuine, generously human. American album certifications – De La Soul – 3 Feet High and Rising". Recording Industry Association of America. Witmer, Phil (18 August 2017). "Frank Ocean's "Seigfried" Builds on the Beatles' Production Legacy". Noisey.Psychedelic, undeniably funky and underpinned by elements of Afro-futurism, De La Soul's landmark 1989 debut LP 3 Feet High and Rising is a defining album of 80s rap, marking the espousal of the 'Daisy Age' spirit which permeated hip-hop at the turn of the 90s. Rappers Posdnuos and Trugoy the Dove talked about anything they wanted (up to and including body odor), playing fast and loose on the mic like Biz Markie. Thinly disguised under a layer of humor, their lyrical themes ranged from true love ("Eye Know") to the destructive power of drugs ("Say No Go") to Daisy Age philosophy ("Tread Water") to sex ("Buddy"). Prince Paul (from Stetsasonic) and DJ Pasemaster Mase led the way on the production end, with dozens of samples from all sorts of left-field artists -- including Johnny Cash, the Mad Lads, Steely Dan, Public Enemy, Hall & Oates, and the Turtles.